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300 Science Jobs to be Created in Norfolk, UK

Thirty new laboratories and offices for 300 research scientists are to be built in Norfolk with a £5m investment fund.

The fund of £5m has been provided by the following companies:

Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) will provide £500,000

The East of England Development Agency £1.4m

Greater Norwich Development Partnership £1m

The University of East Anglia £500,000

The remainder will come from other Norwich Research Park partners

The aim of the scheme is to attract new science companies to the area and is the first stage of a plan to create 5,000 jobs in research by 2021. The new development is on land donated by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at Norwich Research Park. There will also be space for new start-ups and for existing firms to expand.

The science facilities are due to open in the summer and will be managed by a new joint venture company Colney Innovations Limited. David Parfrey, BBSRC Director of Finance and Director of Colney Innovations Limited, said: “Within one kilometre of this facility, there are no fewer than 2,700 research scientists focussed on health, food and environmental sciences – a unique resource in this country. By 2021, we plan to create the facilities for 5,000 new science-related jobs on Norwich Research Park which will make Norfolk one of the world’s largest single-site scientific research centres.”